Nisrine Chahine, head of the contract and part-time teachers’ union, speaks at a protest organized by teachers to demand improved wages, Sept. 18, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Dozens of public school teachers gathered Monday morning in front of Parliament to demand improved work conditions, as limited funds and the snowballing effects of a yearslong economic crisis have delayed the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
Their protest, organized by a union of contract teachers, occurred as multiple committees were meeting inside Parliament to discuss the crisis in the education sector.
Civil servants, including teachers, are still paid largely in Lebanese lira, a currency that has collapsed and lost more than 98 percent of its value since the start of the country's economic crisis in 2019. Severely affected by the financial collapse of the country, public school teachers have protested repeatedly to demand an increase in their salaries.
In particular, teachers are demanding a realistic revision of their salaries, which now stand at about $90 per month.
Omar Ismail, head of a contract teachers' union in northern Lebanon, told L'Orient Today at the scene of the protest that public school teachers' demands include fair and on-time wages and transportation fees, and to start the academic school year on time — Oct. 9 per a decision by the Education Ministry.
"We are demanding to be paid $600 instead of the $90 we are paid now per month, in addition to LL450,000 [around $5] per [working] day as transportation fee, instead of the LL95,000 we get paid," Ismail said, adding that public school teachers are currently being paid the daily transportation fee only three out of four or five working days.
He explained that contract teachers demand they get paid on time, adding that teachers were been paid in March for the first school term, in June for the second school term and in August for the third school term. Ismail lamented the fact that teachers haven't been paid their third school term wages yet.
Students also 'marginalized'
Present at the protest, Suoad Gharios, founder of "Nahnoo Wahed" (We Are One) NGO, told L'Orient Today, that public school students have become "punching bags" amid the education sector's collapse.
Gharios explained that her organization helps pay school tuition and supplies fees for public school students from families below the poverty line. She told L'Orient Today that she has been settling school registration fees — around LL6 million for middle and high school levels and around LL13 million for vocational schools — only for teachers to start going on strike over unpaid wages.
Public school teachers gathered in front of Parliament to demand improved work conditions, Sept. 18, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
"Do you know what we have been doing to get that kind of money?" she lamented. "And this is only the registration fee — more money goes toward books, school supplies and in many cases, transportation."
"I am not against the [public school] teacher nor am I against the public schools and their decisions but rather I stand in protest of the state and the [education] minister and the decisions that have not been in the favor [of students]," Gharios said.
"School kids have become marginalized, their lives have become marginalized, they are deprived of basic human rights."
Incapable of coping with the crisis
During the Parliament meeting, the head of the Education Committee, Hassan Mrad, spoke of the "inability of the education sector" to cope with the crisis and insisted on the "urgent need to find solutions" while criticizing "the lack of interest shown by the state in this sector."
Mrad called for "radical" solutions to the problems linked to teachers' salaries, whether they work in the public or private sector.
For his part, caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi said he was "not exaggerating when I say that public education is now in danger."
He stressed that the problem "is not limited to the school year, but concerns education as a whole."
"It is imperative that lasting solutions be found to settle teachers' salaries in both the public and private sectors," he added.
Halabi also said he regretted that, unlike last year, "international donors are unable to provide financial support for the current year, which poses major challenges for launching the school year."
He further urged Parliament to "approve laws that can contribute to the development of education."
"The State must promote education as a priority," he concluded.
Most public school students are one to two full years behind their grade level amid an ongoing collapse of the Lebanese education sector fueled by the political and economic crises, according to a report Human Rights Watch released Wednesday.
According to the report, "Lebanon’s schools were not providing quality education even before these crises, but the school closures since 2019 have accelerated the decline in learning. Grade 6 students, on average, answered fewer than half of the questions correctly on Arabic literacy tests in 2021-2022, and across all grade levels, most students are one to two full years behind their grade level, teachers estimated."
"The Education Ministry has still not secured sufficient funding for the school year set to begin in October, and Lebanese and donor officials are at loggerheads over funding for some teachers’ salaries," the report added.
